David Wojnarowicz

(American, 1954–1992)

David Wojnarowicz was an American artist and AIDS activist. Throughout his career, he used painting, performance, film, and photography to draw attention to civil rights and gay identity within American popular culture. Many of Wojnarowicz’s projects are drawn from his own life or from individuals he met during his travels: After dropping out of school, Wojnarowicz began hitchhiking across the United States before eventually settling in the New York art scene. While living there with AIDS in the 1980s, he wrote of his art: “I’m in the throes of facing my own mortality and in attempting to communicate what I’m expressing or learning in order to try and help others I am effectively silenced. I am angry.” He is perhaps best known for his black-and-white film A Fire in My Belly (1986–1987) which, 18 years after his death, sparked national controversy. When the piece was exhibited in 2010 at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., protests led by the Catholic League revived a conservative culture war similar to the one that had surrounded photographer Robert Mapplethorpe decades earlier, and brought renewed interest in Wojnarowicz’s life and work. Born on September 14, 1954 in Red Bank, NJ, he grew up partly in New York City, when he returned in the late 1970s and fell in with a group of East Village artists that included Nan Goldin, Kiki Smith, and Peter Hujar, all of whose work explored in on personal identity in various ways. Wojnarowicz's work are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, among others. The artist died of AIDS at the age of 37 on July 22, 1992 in New York, NY.

David Wojnarowicz News

Art & Exhibitions

More Than 800 Zines Created by Artists From Raymond Pettibon to Miranda July Are Going on View in a Major Museum Show

by Min Chen
More Than 800 Zines Created by Artists From Raymond Pettibon to Miranda July Are Going on View in a Major Museum Show
Art World

‘A Face Is Not Just a Face’: Is It Finally Time for the Gay Gaze of Unsung Portraitist Gilbert Lewis?

by William Van Meter
‘A Face Is Not Just a Face’: Is It Finally Time for the Gay Gaze of Unsung Portraitist Gilbert Lewis?
Politics

Following ACT UP Protest, the Whitney Draws Attention to the Ongoing AIDS Epidemic With a New David Wojnarowicz Wall Text

by Sarah Cascone
Following ACT UP Protest, the Whitney Draws Attention to the Ongoing AIDS Epidemic With a New David Wojnarowicz Wall Text

David Wojnarowicz Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

David Wojnarowicz (249 results)
Frog Shield, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

Frog Shield, 1983

Sale Date: June 28, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1993

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1993

Sale Date: May 9, 2012

Auction Closed

History Keeps Me Awake at Night, 1986

David Wojnarowicz

History Keeps Me Awake at Night, 1986

Sale Date: May 9, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled (Ant and Eye), 1988–1989

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled (Ant and Eye), 1988–1989

Sale Date: May 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Jean Genêt masturbating in Metteray prison..., 1983

David Wojnarowicz

Jean Genêt masturbating in Metteray prison..., 1983

Sale Date: January 25, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1983

Sale Date: September 22, 2011

Auction Closed

On mattress

David Wojnarowicz

On mattress

Sale Date: March 16, 2011

Auction Closed

Subway station

David Wojnarowicz

Subway station

Sale Date: March 16, 2011

Auction Closed

Horse, paris 1978, 1978

David Wojnarowicz

Horse, paris 1978, 1978

Sale Date: March 30, 2010

Auction Closed

Earth and wind, 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Earth and wind, 1990

Sale Date: June 29, 2010

Auction Closed

Fire & water, 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Fire & water, 1990

Sale Date: June 29, 2010

Auction Closed

Four elements: fire and water-91, 1990–1991

David Wojnarowicz

Four elements: fire and water-91, 1990–1991

Sale Date: June 2, 2009

Auction Closed

Untitled for ACT UP, 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled for ACT UP, 1990

Sale Date: May 16, 2009

Auction Closed

Untitled - Gorilla, 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled - Gorilla, 1984

Sale Date: November 14, 2008

Auction Closed

North/south: The new legionaires, 1986

David Wojnarowicz

North/south: The new legionaires, 1986

Sale Date: November 12, 2008

Auction Closed

Dung beetles II, camaouflage leads us into..., 1986

David Wojnarowicz

Dung beetles II, camaouflage leads us into..., 1986

Sale Date: November 13, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled, 1984

Sale Date: September 10, 2008

Auction Closed

Dung beetles, 1986

David Wojnarowicz

Dung beetles, 1986

Sale Date: May 14, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled - buffaloes, 1988–1989

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled - buffaloes, 1988–1989

Sale Date: October 18, 2007

Auction Closed

Dollar totem, 1984

David Wojnarowicz

Dollar totem, 1984

Sale Date: September 29, 2007

Auction Closed

Sirloin steak, 1983

David Wojnarowicz

Sirloin steak, 1983

Sale Date: September 12, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled - When I put my hands on your body, 1990

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled - When I put my hands on your body, 1990

Sale Date: September 10, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled - Exploding America, 1982

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled - Exploding America, 1982

Sale Date: February 28, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled - Buffaloes, 1988

David Wojnarowicz

Untitled - Buffaloes, 1988

Sale Date: December 2, 2006

Auction Closed

English (US)

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